Tent for cots and the like.



I. S. PURCELL.

' TENT FOR COTS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 7, I916.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR;

A TTORNEY.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Feb.

8. PURCELL.

TENT FOR COTS AND THE LIKE.

APPLlCATlON m n OCT.7

R) m m m R m T A 25 H e C r.

R c G 0 WITNESSES:

Ill

.WC 5. P'UEGELL, 0F DAR PARK, ILLINDKS, ASSIGNOR T0 'JIEN'IOBEJD COMPANY, or

- CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 01E ILLINOIS.

IEN'I FUR COTS AND THE LIKE.

intense.

Specification of Letters Blatant.

Patented Feb. 5, than Application filed October '5, 1916. Serial No..12t,216.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Isaac S. Funcnnn, citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvement in lents for Cots and the like; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make nd use the same.

My invention relates to tents, its general objects being those of providing a tent especially suited for housing a cot or other form of bed, and equipped both for preventing drafts around the sides and ends of the bed, and for edectively excluding insects.

In using tents of the ordinary construction for housing beds of any hind, it is usually impossible to provide a substantially air-tight juncture of the sides and ends of the tent with the ground, particularly as any prevailing wind will sway these tent portions. Consequently, the entering breezes will circulate between the sides of the bed and the walls of the tent; or, in case of a cot, between the edges of the canvas or other bed member and the adjacent tent walls. In either case, the spacing between the hold aontal member of the bed or cot and the tent walls permits of drafts which are apt to be both unpleasant and injurious to the occu-- pants of the tent and likewise permits the crawling up of spiders and other insects.

For these reasons, the use of tents for sleeping purposes both by city people who may have ample lawn space available in their yards, and by travelers who can easily carry tents and foldingcots on their automobiles has been avoided by a large proportion of those who otherwise would gladly profit by the outdoor sleeping and who (in the case of travelers) might also save hotel bills in this manner. 1

My invention aims to overcome these objections to the ordinary tents by providing means for edectively closing the gaps between the edges ,of the canvas in a folding cot (or their equivalent in any other form of bed) and the adjacent tent walls so as to join this canvas with the upper tent walls into a housing having substantially continuous walls on every side, thereby preventing the entrance of either drafts or insects into this housing. My invention also aims to provide these auxiliary housing means in such a. manner that they may readily be applied to ordinary types of cots or beds,-may readily be disconnected from the same, and may easily be folded or rolled up with the tent. Furthermore, I aim to provide these auxiliary closure means in an inexpensive form, easilyconstructed integral with parts of the bed, easily secured to the bed to prevent their derangement by the action of high winds on the tent walls, but still adapted to adjust themselves to the varying sag and curvature of the horizontal bed member (such as the canvas of a cot) due to the weight and shape of the occupants of the cot. Still other objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a transverse vertical section through a cot sheltered by a tent embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary central vertical section taken longitudinally of the same tent. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the extreme right hand portion of Fig. 1, showing the tent-flaps as overlying the canvasof the cot.

Fig. l is a similar section showing the use i of a fastening element for connecting the flap; fastened to opposite side walls of the ten Fig. 5 is a similar section, showing one of the flaps as underlying the canvas.

Fig. 6 is a similar section, showing the side flap as underlying the side rail of the co p v 'Fig. 7 is a horizontal section through a tent and cot, showing a desirable method of connecting the opposed auxiliary flaps of my invention.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a bedstead housed by a tent embodyin my invention.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary vertical section through the tent of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view showing an auxiliary flap integral with the ile my invention may be applied with and . or folding them.

substantially equal facility and advantages to cots and beds of various types, it is particularly adapted for use in connection with the folding cot disclosed in my co-pending application, filed of even date herewith as Serial No. 124,215, and ,is therefore shown in such a connection in most of the figures of the accompanying drawings. In the embodiments illustrated, my invention is accomplished largely by providing auxiliary flaps attached to certain of the tent walls preferably to all four of the same), which-flaps may be extended parallel and adjacent to the horizontal bed member (that is to say, the canvas of the cot) so as to form auxiliary housing portions ridging the usual gapsbetween the lateral edges of the said bed member and the adjacent tent walls. These auxiliary flaps are desirably attached to the tent walls at a height approximating that of the side rails of the cot, and the flaps attached respectively to the side and end walls of the tent are preferably disconnected from each other, so that their adjacent ends may readily be overlapped without crinkling Then I also preferably provide fastening means, attached either to the main tent walls or to the auxiliary flaps, for fastening these housing portions to the rails of the cot or bed to prevent high winds from disturbing the desired position of these elements with respect to the cot or bed.

For example, Fig. 1 shows a cot having side rails 1 and end-railsQ, which latter support a canvas 3, the cot being housed by a tent having sloping side wall portions 4 reaching to the side rails of the cot and continued vertically downward from these rails by wall portions 5. In this case, flaps 6 are secured to each of the inclined wall portions 4 of the tent and when the cot is set up within the tent, the free edge portions of these flaps are laid upon the canvas 3 as shown in Fig. 1. Likewise, similar flaps 7 are secured at their upper edges to the end walls 8 along lines somewhat above the end rails of the cot, andthe free edge portions of these flaps 7 are laid also upon the canvas as shown in Fig. 2, adjacent end portions of the flaps 6 and 7 being slightlyoverlapped. These flaps may be constructed separate from the material of the tent portions 4, 5 and 7, or integral with certain parts of the latter, but the juncture of the auxiliary flaps with the tent portions extending upwardly and downward from the said juncture is preferably so made that the descending rain cannot drive in at this juncture. In other words, the depending tent wall portion may be integral with the upwardly extending wall portion (as in Figs. 1 to 6) or with the auxiliary flap, as inFigs. 10 and 11.

In order that the side flaps may follow the sagging of the canvas when the latter is flexed by the weight of the occupant of the cot, the central portions of these flaps are preferably left free to move with respect to each other, but suitable fastenings 18 may connect the opposed flap parts near their ends (as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7) and these fastenings may be of elastic material. At the head and foot ends, the sagging is usually so slight that no fastenings of any kind are needed. To prevent high winds from flexing the side walls of the tent outwardly and thereby pulling the flaps off the cot, I preferably fasten the tent to the side rails by fastenings of any suitable kind, such as tapes 9 secured to each'side wall of the tent near the juncture of said wall with the side flap. These tapes may be disposed under the flaps, as in Figs. 1 and 3, or over the latter as in Fig. 6.

However, while I have shown and described my invention as used with a foldable cot and as having the flaps arranged in cer tain ways, I do not wish to be limited to these or other details of the construction thus disclosed, it being evident that this might be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

For example, the tent of my invention ma readily be used with an ordinary metal be stead, such as that shown in Figs. 8 and 9,

in which case the end flaps are brought in through the usual opening under the vertical rails in one of the ends of the bed. So also, instead of having the flaps above the side and end rails of the bed or cot (which terms I am using interchangeably as covering a wide range of types), the flaps may project under these rails, as in Figs. 5, 6 and 10. In each case, it will be obvious, that the auxiliary flaps thus provided act practically as a border for the canvas or bed bottom, so as to continue the latter effectively to the tent walls, thereby excluding the entrance of either air currents or insects between the bed bottom and the tent walls.

When I use the words tent in the claims it is my intention to specify thereby any and all walls of the tent whether they be side walls, end walls or top walls.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a tent, of a cot therein having its side portions extendin substantially contiguous with and relatively near the limitations of the tent, and flaps carried by the tent and loosely overla ping adjacent portions of the cot to divi e the tent into non-communicating compartments displosed above and below the cot respective y.

2. The combination with a tent, of a cot therein having its side portions extending limitations of the substantially contiguous with and relatively near the limitations of the tent, said limitat1ons below the cot being capableof movement relatively o the cot, and flaps carried naaaaaa by the tent and loosely overlapping adjacent portions of the cot to divide the tent into non-communicating compartments disposed above and below the cot respectively.

3. The combination with a tent, of a cot therein having its side portions extending substantially contiguous with and relatively near the limitations of the tent, flaps car ried by the tent and loosely overlapping adjaoent portions of the cot to divide the tent into non-communicating compartments disposed above and below the cot respectively, and fastening means carried by the tent adjacent the juncture of the tent and flaps for positively securing the same to side portions of the cot.

4. The combination with a tent, of a cot therein having its side portions extending substantially contiguous with and relatively near the limitations of the tent, flaps carried by the tent and overlapping adjacent portions of the cot to divide the tent into non-communicating compartments disposed above and below the cot respectively, and means for connecting opposite flaps together.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, October 4th,

ISAAC S. PUBCELL. 

